


slowly learning that life is okay

by grammartian



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Child Abuse, Past Abuse, dealing with abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 22:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15895404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grammartian/pseuds/grammartian
Summary: Life isn't easy when you're a teen. Doubly so when you have to deal with abusive relatives, even if you don't yet realise the abuse. Add in strange things happening after a certain event and... Well, things get unnecessarily complicated.





	1. there's no such thing as a coincidence, yugi

**Author's Note:**

> So some notes: the rating and tags on this fic will probably change as I go, same with the summary, if there's anything heavier going on it'll be warned individually on the chapter, but I kinda doubt that'll be necessary. I'll also add characters and relationships as they appear.
> 
> This will probably be entirely set in the manga and use the Japanese names of the characters
> 
> The phone layout is something I added last-minute because I found the tutorials I link below and thought they're cool, if you don't like them, just hide creator style and you can read it like a proper fic. Pretty sure on mobile it only appears without styling.  
> Reading without style is also a little different than with, so I recommend it!  
> Edit: okay I have now seen this on my phone and the styling works, should have checked before I wrote that oops
> 
> I used the tutorials in [here](https://archiveofourown.org/series/458134) for the phone layout and the custom divider, check it out it's really helpful!

The day had gone uneventfully, and so had the evening. Yugi was sorting through his cards on his bed when he got a text.

It was from  Jounouchi.  
  
The message said "can o come ovwr?" Yugi frowned at the typos, his friend's messages usually lacking punctuation but otherwise spelled fine. Something was wrong.  
  
Despite the bad feeling he had, he replied simply, "Sure! Lemme just ask grandpa"  
  
"im near" Came the reply and Yugi furrowed his brows.  
  
"I don't think he'll like it much if you just pop up like this" He tapped into his phone as he got up from the bed.   
  
The next message was simple and misspelled: "sotty"   
  
Jounouchi was typing something else.

Yugi paused at the top of the stairs, his frown deepening. His friend kept typing and stopping, starting and stopping again, so Yugi waited. It was hard enough to make him talk about personal stuff and he clearly was very upset already, interrupting him was not going to help.  


Getting him to talk about things that annoyed him wasn't a problem; Jounouchi often talked about things like that, homework and teachers and people walking too slow in the school corridors. Those were easy. But personal things? Good luck getting anything out. 

Finally,  Jounouchi sent another message.  
  
"He kicked me out"   


Yugi's blood froze at that message. There was definitely much more to that story. The gears in his mind started turning at full speed.

Yugi rushed back to his room, rummaging around the chaos on his desk in search of something. When he found it, he dashed back to the stairs and padded as quietly down them as he could. 

He hurried to send  Jounouchi another message   
  
"Come to the back door. You know it right?" He typed in urgently  
  
"yeah be there in a sec" Jounouchi finally replied.   


Yugi tiptoed towards the shop, trying to see if his grandpa was there or not. He strained his ears for any sound, and almost jumped when the shop phone rang and his grandpa picked it up. Well, at least that was one less thing to worry about for now.

He snuck to the back door and fumbled a bit after unlocking it, the wooden door swollen from the recent rain and harder to move. Yugi then stepped outside and closed the door, quietly cursing the fact he forgot to put on shoes as the damp cement soaked his socks, and waited, glancing impatiently at his phone every few seconds. Jounouchi wasn't typing anything, probably still walking.

After what felt like a small eternity and Yugi's heart trying to burst out of his ribcage, he heard footsteps closing in and he held onto the door handle to lean out and see who's there. It was indeed Jounouchi, and Yugi wouldn't have recognised him if he didn't know him so well. The usually confident teen was slumped over, deflated, walking somehow as if in slow motion. Yugi waved to let him know him he'd seen him and Jounouchi hurried up to get to him. In the meantime, Yugi opened the door again to let them back in. Inside, Jounouchi kicked off his shoes and dropped his backpack onto them.

'Jono-?' Yugi began carefully and noticed his friend was shaking horribly. Without a word or a warning, Jounouchi lunged forward in an awkward but crushing hug. A few stunned seconds later, Yugi returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around him tightly, trying to twist just a little bit so his necklace wouldn't jab so painfully into his chest, but not wanting to look like he was pushing Jounouchi away. The way he trembled, the shaky breaths, made anxiety take over Yugi's heart completely. He hadn't seen his best friend like this before.

The shaking subsided a bit, and Jounouchi moved his head slightly to the side, a sniff interrupting the silence.

'Let's go upstairs before grandpa sees us here,' Yugi said quietly.

Jounouchi sniffed again before finally loosening his grip and letting him go. 'Sorry, Yug, I...'

'It's fine,' Yugi said, trying to smile reassuringly, leaning down to take Jounouchi's shoes.

They took his things to Yugi's room, then the boy had him sit on the chair at his desk so he could inspect the damage.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Yugi asked softly after he'd washed Jounouchi's arms, dabbing some ointment onto the small lacerations on them as he looked them over. At this point he just kept the small tub, a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton buds hidden in his desk drawer.

'What's there to talk, Yug...' Jounouchi said with a frown, hissing as his friend worked up his arm.

'How this happened, for example.' Yugi said, not looking up or stopping, but what he meant was clear.

'Threw a bottle a' me.'

Yugi paused, cold blooming in his chest. 'Okay, a few,' Jounouchi added, voice quieter. 'Threw me on them too.'

The cold slowly seeped from his chest into his guts as he tried to think of what to say. He didn't know how to say sorry without it sounding condescending or full of pity, both things he didnt really feel towards his friend. A little pity, okay, maybe, but it was more empathy and feeling helpess to stop this. He finally settled on keeping the topic on Jounouchi's wounds.

'I'll have to see if there's any glass in your arms then,' he said, to which Jounouchi just snorted softly. 'In your hands too.'

'I'm sorry. You were pro'bly having a nice peaceful evening and then I fucked it all up,' Jounouchi said quietly, glancing at the scattered cards on the bed.

'Can you stop apologising? This isn't your fault. Your father being shitty isn't your fault.'

Jounouchi sniffed, muttering something that suspiciously sounded a lot like _mother_ , still looking away.

Done with Jounouchi's arms, Yugi took his hands in his, frowning at the daunting task of possibly having to dig glass shards out of the wounds. 'This will hurt a lot.' He said simply.

'No shit, I fell on glass.' Jounouchi answered. 'Just get it over with.'

'So uh... how did this...'

'Hell if I know, Yug.' Jounouchi sat back a bit in the chair, eyes on the ceiling as Yugi carefully looked at his palms under his desk light for any signs of glass. 'I just got back from school, an' he was there on the couch, drunk off his ass like always. He was going on about how I'm spendin' too much or _something_ , I couldn't be assed to listen to the old drunk.' Jounouchi went quiet, sighing quietly.

'Found one,' Yugi said with no mirth, then searched in the nearest drawer.

'Why do you have a pincushion?'

'Clothes sometimes rip, so I gotta sew them,' Yugi answered flatly, picking out a thin needle.

'You know that's not what I was asking, smartass.' Jounouchi said with a frown. He looked confused for all of two seconds before Yugi took out a new cotton bud and poured disinfectant on it, then cleaned the needle with it. Jounouchi finally let out an apprehensive huff as Yugi took his hand again and brought it to his face.

'You might wanna look at the ceiling again,' Yugi said and before Jounouchi could reply with anything, he gently sank it into the wound. Yugi carefully coaxed the small shard of green glass upwards, just like a splinter. When it was out and on the desk, he dabbed the ointment onto the wound.

'I hope that wasn't too painful,' Yugi said, finally looking up at Jounouchi.

'Nah, that damn thing you keep slathering on me hurts way worse.'

Yugi spent the next few minutes doing the same until he was pretty sure there wasn't any more glass left.

'Anywhere else that needs tending?' Yugi asked after he finished bandaging Jounouchi's arms and carefully pulling down his sleeves over them.

'Well, when you put it like that,' Jounouchi trailed off, the beginning of a smile on his face.

'No,' Yugi cut him off with a small smile of his own.

  


* * *

  


'Ok now to officially get you in here.' Yugi announced and Jounouchi tilted his head to the side questioningly. 'You get out the back door then come through the front, then let me handle it.'

Jounouchi nodded and they headed downstairs, then to the back door, but when Yugi put in the key again, the door was unlocked. Yugi nudged his friend to walk off a bit, then opened the door and saw his grandpa, smoking. He pointed Jounouchi towards the shop, then called out, 'Grandpa?'

'Yugi?'

'There you are,' Yugi said, smiling as he tried to think of a believeable enough excuse. 'Jounouchi dropped by and you were nowhere to be found.'

'Is he okay?'

'Yeah,' he lied, 'but he lost his keys and his dad isn't home, so can he stay over? Please, grandpa!'

The old man frowned. _Oh great_. 'This is rather sudden, Yugi.'

'Yeah, but he couldn't find his keys after practice and... C'mon it'll be like a sleepover! I've always wanted to do a sleepover!' Yugi beamed his brightest smile. _Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes,_

His grandpa leant over to the ashtray he kept on a ridge on the wall, extinguishing his cigarette. 'Very well. But,' _oh, here we go again_ , 'we'll have a talk after this.'

Yugi forced himself to keep the smile as he nodded. 'I'll go tell him!' He chirped, turning around and dashing to the shop in the front before his grandpa could follow.

When Yugi burst into the shop, Jounouchi was looking at a shelf of board games, the perfect picture of someone pretending to be interested and failing. He looked up at his friend in but the younger interrupted him before he could say anything.

'Give me your keys!' Yugi hissed and when Jounouchi didn't react fast enough, he reached into his pocket, dragging out the keys.

'What are you-'

'The chain too!'

By the time Yugi's grandpa came up behind the counter, Yugi had succesfully stuffed the keys and their chain in his back pocket and was pulling his shirt down in an attempt to hide them better.

'Yugi told me you've lost your keys.' He said sternly.

'I did...?' Jounouchi started but when he got a slight jab in his ribs, he added, 'Yeah, I did, sorry for the inconvenience...'

'Oh no, it's alright, please make yourself at home.' He finally smiled. 'Now, if you just give me your dad's number to tell him you'd be staying here...'

Yugi and Jounouchi used the moment of him having his back to them to share a frantic look. 'Oh, uh, he doesn't have a phone,' Jounouchi blurted out. 'And we don't have a phone at home!' He added hastily.

Grandpa frowned at the boys. 'So are you the one who's been teaching my Yugi to lie? Because that is very-'

'Grandpa, no, he's not lying,' Yugi hurried to say, then cringed. 'Sorry I interrupted you, but... look, we have homework due tomorrow, let us just do it in my room, we'll be quiet, okay?' Bringing up homework should do the trick, _please let it do the trick._

Grandpa gave him a stern look. 'Okay, but we're going to talk about this later.'

'Of course,' Yugi said, trying to sound as calm and natural as possible, pretty sure he was failing.

  


* * *

  


The rest of the evening went by as normally as it could. After dinner, the two teens went back to Yugi's room.

'Y'know, Yug, I appreciate it, but you didn't really have to lie to your gramps like that,' Jounouchi said in a hushed tone while they were mulling over some maths problems at Yugi's desk.

Yugi took the moment to stretch. 'Trust me, I did. If we told him why you're really here, he'd start fussing and then actually insist to talk to _him_.' He said, fightng down a frown when Jounouchi winced.

'That ain't gonna help anyone.' Jounouchi agreed with a sigh and put down his pen. ''Kay, I can't focus anymore, let's call it a day.'

'Why, isn't this just the most exciting ever?' Yugi asked though light laughter. 'Actually, did you manage to get anything for a sleepover?'

A few minutes later Jounouchi had checked his bag and determined he'd only managed to grab one clean shirt, and his sports clothes were still in from earlier in the day. Yugi dug out a pyjama set he'd never worn because some relative of his apparently couldn't reconcile with him still being so short.

Jounouchi turned around to change into the new clothes and Yugi didn't mean to stare at him, but when he took off his shirt, there were long, dark bruises forming on his back.

He was talking about something silly, but Yugi completely lost track of what it was, too focused on the horrible marks. Jounouchi turned as he was talking and the sentence died in his throat along with his smile as soon as he saw Yugi's stunned face.

'Did he... do that.' Yugi finally broke the silence, voice cracking at the end. _Who else would_.

He didn't reply, though that was confirmation enough. When he thought about it, Jounouchi did twitch earlier whenever something touched his back. How hadn't he realised sooner?

Before either could speak again, there was a knock on the door. Grandpa didn't even wait a second before walking in to inform them he couldn't find the air mattress.

In the end, Yugi and Jounouchi decided to share the bed. They'd known each other for years. They were both boys. The bed was big enough. It was going to be fine.

For some reason he couldn't explain, Yugi had the urge to be on the side away from the wall. He usually preferred being towards the wall so he really wasn't sure what brought this urge, but Jounouchi just shrugged with a yawn.

Finally they settled to sleep, Jounouchi with his back to the wall, muttering quietly about the cool wall soothing his burning back. Yugi still wanted to do something about that, but he had no idea what and he didn't want to push his friend if he didn't want to talk.

It wasn't like he hadn't tried to do anything, but the police was completely useless. The local police department were old buddies with Jounouchi's father, old colleagues and all that, all they ever did was ask him if everything was okay and go away again. Calling them only made his father angrier so in the end it was pointless.

  


* * *

  


Hours later, Yugi woke up with a start, his heart pounding loudly, his nightmares fading faster than he could recall them, but even awake he couldn't shake the smell of smoke in his lungs, the crackling and creaking of fire consuming wood. He looked around slightly, not seeing much in the dark but Jounouchi's lightly snoring figure, having moved onto his stomach with one arm draped over Yugi. That'd at least explain the weight on his chest.

He huffed, blowing a strand of light hair from his face, not wanting to move too much and wake up Jounouchi.

He was starting to doze off again when his body started moving on its own. His hands rose up to Jounouchi's arm and lifted it enough for him to slide out. He felt his lips moving, whispering something he couldn't hear as he tapped Jounouchi's shoulder and stood up from the bed. The last thing he remembered was watching his friend for a few seconds, before he himself fell into a dreamless unconsciousness.

  


* * *

  


Morning found Yugi barely able to breathe. Somehow during the night Jounouchi had wrapped himself around him like a boa constrictor. Next time he was sharing a bed with him, there was going to be at least one extra pillow between them for Jounouchi to strangle... if there was going to be a next time. Yugi felt like this little stunt of his would cost him more than just an annoying hours long lecture. Then the sweet sounds of Yugi's very annoying beeping alarm went off, doing absolutely nothing to wake up the larger teen.

Yugi wrestled his way out of Jounouchi's grip to turn the alarm off before it could wake his grandpa up.

As he stared down at the still dead asleep teen he remembered a similar scene from the middle of the night, after he'd woken up from a nightmare he still didn't remember... unless he never had woken up and that was a dream within a dream and... it was far too early to be thinking such complicated things, he decided, a yawn splitting his face.

As he got ready for school, he felt something heavy in his pockets. Right, he'd never taken out Jounouchi's keys. He'd better return them before he forgets and-

A bottle cap rolled onto the floor. Yugi picked it up and stared at it in confusion.That sure hadn't been there before. He put it back into his pocket for now, not having the time to hide it, nor willing to risk his grandpa finding it and having to explain why he had a random bottle cap despite not knowing himself.

  


* * *

  


The day went by as usual, and after school Jounouchi decided to take the risk and go home, Yugi promising him they'd figure something out if he would be kicked out again.

Instead in the evening Yugi got a text from him saying that the apartment actually looked livable for once, though he didn't go much into detail. He did mention the bottles being mostly gone, which reminded Yugi of the bottle cap that he'd completely forgotten about during the day.

He furrowed his brows and wrote to Jounouchi .  
  
"Hey Jounouchi?"   
  
"?" Came the eloquent reply and Yugi snorted.  
  
"You don't have to answer me, but what beer does he drink?" He finally sent after having to retype his message a few times, dissatisfied with the wording.  
  
"if youre looking for recomendations the old bastards a bad source"   
  
"its mostly the cheap stuff" He added.  


Jounouchi then listed a few brands, as Yugi twirled the cap between his fingers. Among the listed ones was the one written on the cap. He frowned. It was probably a coincidence. 


	2. what's there to worry about, jounouchi?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jounouchi does a lot more thinking than he's used to and gets teased a bit more than usual by Honda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to write this chapter for 2 weeks now as you see, and I'm still not totally happy with it but to hell with it, I wanted to post it already  
> very likely gonna edit it tomorrow when I've had some sleep and realise what I've done  
> anyway enough of my rambling, onto the chapter

Jounouchi wasn't sure what he dreamt of that night, maybe nothing, or maybe something incredibly trivial, but in the morning someone was trying to rip his pillow from his hands while saying something he couldn't hear clearly. He tried to say something himself but all that probably came out was a _nhhhh_. Jounouchi knew screaming was soon to follow, even if he wasn't sure why his father would barge into his room and try to steal his pillow of all things, but at this point few things could really surprise him.

The pillow was ripped from his hands at last and he grumbled as he rolled onto his side, the movement shooting pain through his back and arms. Jounouchi froze. It was too late to stay still, even if he still didn't know what his father wanted, so he just started breathing deeply again.

Shuffling and movements around him, steps that were way too light for his father's. Now that he could focus on it, this didn't really feel like his own bed. Before he could think some more, someone shook him gently, saying something. Wait, that was Yugi's voice. His eyes snapped open as he clumsily tried to sit up and failed, too wrapped up in the sheets and his muscles still too asleep.

'C'mon, we'll be late for school,' Yugi said, leaning above Jounouchi, hand on his shoulder.

  


* * *

  


Yugi took a look at his arms and bandaged them again before they left for school. He hadn't asked about his back, and Jounouchi wasn't going to make him look at that mess anyway. Still, Yugi had found some painkillers for Jounouchi, who had sworn eternal graditude to him then and there.

'Say, Yug, why do you have a whole damn pharmacy in your desk drawer?' Jounouchi asked a few minutes later as they walked to school.

Yugi thought a moment, adjusting his pendant so it'd be facing the right way. 'I used to get beat up a lot before we became friends, right?'

'Uh-huh,' Jounouchi muttered.

'I didn't want to worry grandpa, so I just... learned to take care of it myself.' Yugi said, then got rather quiet for the rest of the walk.

  


* * *

  


Despite the bad day he'd had yesteday, Jounouchi felt more rested than he had in... hell if he remembered how long. He hadn't slept through an entire night with no interruptions in so long, always woken up by random things, nightmares, his dad.... And now nothing. A full night of sleep, even if they didn't really go to bed till after midnight and then woke up early for school.

Classes were as boring as ever, though, so he found himself doing something he didn't often do - thinking. Maybe it was because he had actually slept for once.

And it had been thanks to Yugi. This kind of weird boy that looked a lot more like a middle schooler than a high schooler, that he hadn't been that nice to for most of their first year together at school, and that had stood up to that tall asshole Ushio, definitely knowing he didn't stand a chance. And yet he took the beating without complaint or going back on his word.

And then he'd taken Jounouchi into his house without a second thought even when it seemed like he had problems of his own, and taken care of his wounds, which still stung whenever he moved, but would probably be much worse if he hadn't done that.

He wasn't entirely sure himself why he'd gone to Yugi after his father kicked him out, nor why he'd been so open and weak in front of him. He could've just as easily gone to Honda with the same success, probably, or... Maybe not. Would his folks have let that terribly acted out lie slide as easily as Yugi's grandpa had?

Jounouchi slumped onto his desk. _Phew_ , that was too much thinking at once. He almost missed being so tired he'd fall asleep as soon as class started. Almost.

Maybe they would have been more insistent on calling his dad, or the police... The police was useless, and calling his dad would just make everything worse.

  


* * *

  


'So,' Honda said after school was over. 'You didn't sleep through classes like usual. What gives?'

'I dunno, I wasn't tired.'

'Are you sure?'

'Honda,' Jounouchi growled. 'What are you on about?'

'Oh you know, maybe you were with a little someone,' Honda said with a wink.

Jounouchi tilted his head and scratched the back of his head as he answered, 'Well, I _was_ with Yugi, so - '

'Oh, so you were _with_ Yugi, huh?' Honda said with a cackle.

In the 1.5 seconds it took Jounouchi to process what his friend had said, his face went from confusion to anger. 'Oi, you wanna lose your teeth?'

Honda just laughed at the threat. 'Anyway, let's go to the arcades, they got this new machine - '

'Yeah, I'll pass.' Jounouchi cut him off.

'What? This is the third time you blow me off -'

'I gotta go home. Also, what are you, my girlfriend? I'll see ya tomorrow again.'

Honda grumbled something as the other turned to leave.

'Fine, leave, but I'll get to the bottom of this, Jounouchi!'

'Have fun with that, _honey_ ,' Jounouchi yelled over his shoulder, not slowing down, hearing Honda yell back something about him being the boyfriend. Ha, as if.

  


* * *

  


At home things were... quiet. His father was nowhere to be seen, by the snoring he figured he was in his room, sleeping off a hangover no doubt.

The rest of the apartment, however, was surprisingly clean. No bottles or cans or empty pizza boxes strewn all around. If it weren't for the ever-present stench of beer and cigarettes, he'd have guessed he'd somehow gone into the wrong apartment.

It felt strange. Like a trap of some kind. Jounouchi sincerely doubted his father had been overcome with guilt for kicking him and cleaned or whatever.

He cautiously went into his room,

Watching TV was too risky, if it was too loud and his father woke up, he'd have to deal with him, and he was absolutely not in a mood for a repeat of yesterday. Instead he collapsed facedown onto his bed.

It was way too quiet.

'This is stupid,' Jounouchi grumbled when he got startled by yet another random noise, _why were the neighbours moving around so much?_

He groaned as he took out his phone, the movement tugging at his sore back muscles. The painkillers from Yugi were in his backpack, great.

Honda had sent him a bunch of messages, mostly nonsense and more dumb shit about his secret girlfriend or whatever.

Yugi asked him about the beers his father drank.

Things made as much sense as usual.

  


* * *

  


Next few days were suspiciously quiet and normal, Jounouchi's father being out till late and then crashing in his room or, if he was too drunk already, the couch. It was weird, felt like a calm before some sort of storm. He doubted his father had changed, or would, or even could change.

Other things had changed, however. Perhaps sharing the bed with Yugi had been a bit strange. It was big enough for them both but Yugi told him later he'd wrapped around him and that didn't sit well with him. They were both guys, guys shouldn't share a bed, but Yugi had been fine with it. It would've been weirder if one was a girl, right?

That and Honda's jokes about him and Yugi hung in the back of his mind for the following few days. It wasn't anything new. So why was he bothered?

  


* * *

  


One evening, Jounouchi was lying on his bed, his back finally okay enough for him to lie on it, as long as he didnt move. He was chatting with Yugi and all was normal, till he had to go for a bit.

Yugi returned after probably half an hour, and sent a very short message.  
  
"Jounouchi." The teen in question found himself blinking at his phone.   
  
"yea?" He sent back after a few moments.  
  
"Would you like to come over tomorrow." Yugi finally sent after a small eternity.  
  
"Grandpa wouldn't mind. I have a new game. We could try it." He added rather fast for how long the message was.  


Jounouchi looked up, staring at the general direction of the living room couch, where his father was currently passed out. Would the old man even notice if he was gone again? 

He replied to Yugi, not wanting to leave him hanging.  
  
"tomorrow eh"   
  
"are there gonna be s nacks" Aaand he sent it before he could fix the damn typo. Whatevr.  
  
"Of course. What host would I be otherwise."   


Something felt off here, but Jounouchi wasn't yet sure what it was.

"hell yeah then," he sent to Yugi.


End file.
